Wrapping Your Head Around It

Professional development (PD) provided by the Learn IT program could change your life. That may sound like an exaggeration, but it doesn’t have to be! You could just sign up for a basic class to check PD off your supervisor’s list for you, but why limit yourself? This is an opportunity for you to get significant training to open new opportunities for your future career, take advantage of that!

Need some help in thinking about what kind of professional development would help you? Try asking yourself questions like:

What are my strengths and talents?

What skills or knowledge would help to improve the effectiveness and fulfillment of my job, today?

What kind of work do I see myself doing five or ten years from now?

What is an area that IT Services is currently lacking, or could improve on?

How could you help your clients and colleagues at a deeper level than just providing an IT service?

What skills could I start developing today, that could lead to these goals?

These can be big, deep questions, so give them their due focus. Some ways you might help yourself think through these questions include:

• Consider brainstorming outside of just your head, using paper and pen, post-its, mind map software, the freewriting method, or just a text editor with good outlining features. Putting thoughts and plans down in writing can help to better understand them than by just thinking or talking about them.
• Discuss these questions and your insights with your manager or a colleague. If you’re thinking about learning about a topic outside of your direct area of expertise, try to talk to someone that already works in that area to get their insights and mentorship.
• Discuss with a friend or family member — Explaining something to someone outside of the “field” is a good way to help you understand the topic yourself by seeing it through an outside perspective.
• When you talk to others, find someone who can help you think about how to make a plan work, rather than one who will focus on why it won’t.
• Want some of the benefits of talking your plan through with someone else, but don’t know who to talk to? Try out the “Rubber Duck” method, a practice popular with programmers, but which can help with any problem.

Ready to move on? Your next step is to Talk To Your Supervisor